Layover in Santa Barbara

When we first looked into a mileage flight from Tahiti to Europe, we noticed the layover was in LAX.
There was no way we were flying through without making time to soak up some much-needed moments with dear friends.

It's been all too long… something we've been talking a lot about recently. As much as we have loved our time on svKarma, one of the things we wish we’d done a bit differently is learn to leave the boat.

That may seem strange, but in 6.5 years of travel aboard Karma, we never left the boat for a single night — outside of trying to sell her. Not for a hotel, a weekend road trip, or even a change of scenery.

Early on, that was because we had Karma the wonderdog with us and travel was simply difficult. But after that, it was simply not knowing how… and the logistics.

We love life aboard and rarely wish we were somewhere else, but we also believe in the value of experiencing all things. And since people come to visit us far less than we expected and/or planned, it turns out that being able to plan trips to see them — or join people for fun, exciting trips — would be a huge value-add.

Should we find ourselves back onboard, this is something we'd like to change.

No doubt, it won’t be easy — one of the largest factors standing in the way is simply logistics. We spend most of our time sitting in remote places alone, with nobody to simply fly in and leave the boat with. Combine that with often needing to move or reposition the boat to avoid shifting weather, and that also limits the people who could even be considered “qualified” to watch her.

Yes, people do still travel while living aboard — but in most cases, that means time in a marina (for them and the boat). We’ve always tried to steer clear of marinas, both due to the expense and the simple fact that being tied to land is very much like living on land. It’s simply not our best life — and if/when we decide we’re ready for that again, it’s probably time to give up the boat.

Anyway, that was a long diatribe to explain that it's something we want to change in the future — and to explain how excited we are to see and reconnect with old friends.

The layover in LAX (really, in Santa Barbara — because we immediately hopped the airbus north) wasn’t nearly long enough. Truth be told, it never is… but we soaked up the town — and more so, our people — as best we could with the few days we had.

Mostly quiet time at home with loved ones, combined with dog walks, wandered the beach, dinners out, and the occasional bar or cocktail hour. We got lucky that it was Chad's birthday, so we were fortunate enough to have an extended group as Josh & Al flew in for the celebration.

Were it not for a county-wide burrito shortage, we no doubt would have eaten Mexican/burritos every single meal. Lucky for us, SB has plenty of great options, and we continue to be amazed by how easy and convenient life on land is.
Convenient in terms of access to things, the ability to get places, not having to check the weather three times a day to know if you and your home are safe… but also fair to say we’re still struggling a bit in terms of acclimating.

Even here, among people we love (and who we know love and accept us), we are very clearly awkward and out of place. Everything we do is a very clear indicator and reminder of just how antisocial (or simply used to spending all our time alone) we’ve become. The one drawback of having become reclusive island dwellers I guess.
They were great — strangely accommodating — and somehow arranged a babysitting schedule to pass us around to whoever’s house and schedule was available, with little to no notice.

It certainly wasn’t an 80-person, 3-day rave in a circus tent like the party in AUS, but we’re also still working to re-find our social skills.

Most importantly, we had some wonderful moments and deep conversations with people we deeply love, and we would have spent a heap of miles to get here for that alone. Given that both of our love languages are quality time, we’re already feeling incredibly grateful for a “free” layover with our friends en route to Europe.

It’s always simply incredible how quickly we can fall back into old times and patterns with people we haven’t seen for years — like we never missed a beat.
Pretty sure that’s how you know when you’ve found your people.
And we’re thrilled to have found ours (in a couple of places around the globe, actually). It’s just a pity that our lifestyles are so vastly different that we don’t get to see more of them — but that’s what retirement (for them) will be for, right?
Until then, we’ll keep stealing these little pockets of connection whenever the currents allow.😉